I want to upgrade my interconnects on a low budget. I can solder. Any suggestions, eg microphone cable? Plugs? What's best for the very low signal coming from an MC cartridge? I have a VDH Black Beauty cartridge in Adanalog parallel airbearing arm on Nottingham Analogue Dais TT, Silk SUTs, Croft phono/preamp, 211 SE amp, esl63s. Would welcome any wisdom and creative solutions, as I'm certain very good results must be obtainable at a fraction of the extortionate cost of "hifi" cables. My speaker cables are single strand pure silver in teflon, which work very well.

cable asylum is a great resource. i made jon risch designed i/c's and speaker cables. he has done a lot of work with audio cables and i have had incredible results with his designs. the coax he uses is belden 89259. you'll find him on the cable asylum.

Here is a easy to do interconnect that will sound like it cost $300. Use Belden 89259 DIY RCA Interconnect Cables This is an unbalanced RCA interconnect cable design using the low capacitance Belden 89259 coaxial cable. Belden 89259 is a RG-59/U plenum rated coax cable with a stranded (7x30) center conductor and bare copper braid shield. Insulating materials are FEP (Teflon) dielectric and outer jacket. The heavy copper shield, low capacitance and premium insulating materials make this a super cable for a wide range of DIY audio cable projects, it works great for speaker cable, interconnect and digital cables.

1. Using a stripper/cutter, side cutters or a utility knife, cut 2 equal lengths of Belden 89259 cable.

2. Measure the approximate stripping length of cable against the barrel of the RCA plug

3. Using a sharp utility knife, lightly cut the cable jacket along the measured stripping length

4. Pull back the cut jacket and trim away the excess

5. Comb back the copper shield and tightly twist together

6. Strip away approximately 3/16" (5 mm) of insulation with a coaxial stripper

Note: When using a coaxial stripper to remove the insulation, turn one revolution only. Any more than one revolution may cut into the conductor. You can practice using the coaxial stripper on a test piece of coax cable before using it on the Belden 89259 cable. A stripper/cutter may be used instead of a coaxial stripper.

The instruction below have been put together for a Cardas Silver RCA plug. Of course you can use your favorite style of plug, but depending on the RCA plug that you choose, the specific details will change slightly, but the general idea is the same. Photograph 5: Male RCA Plug

7. Bend the bridge so it will accept the twisted shield by placing a screw driver on mid-point of Bridge

8. While holding the screw driver in place, carefully tap the screw driver to bend Bridge

Note: Do not over bend the bridge. Doing so will cause interference with the coax insulation. The center of the bridge may crack while bending. This is normal as a result of the brittle material.

9. Bend the bridge until the gap is just large enough to fit the twisted shield

10. Preheat and apply solder sparingly to both the conductor and tit

11. Solder the twisted shield to the RCA bridge using the same method described in step 10.

Note: Before connecting the remaining RCA plug on the other end, you must first insert the TechFlex expandable sleeving and heatshrink wrappings.

12. Slide the TechFlex expandable sleeving and the two 1/2" diameter x 2.5" long heatshrink wrappings over the cable from the non-terminated end.